During the past five years, the U.S. Coast Guard has stated its intention to discontinue witnessing annual testing of life rafts used on Coast Guard certificated vessels and drilling rigs as a cost savings measure to taxpayers. The Coast Guard has been investigating alternative methods of overseeing this critical function. The Coast Guard has considered, as an alternative, accepting witnessing from independent, qualified third party agencies such as the American Bureau of Shipping or the Underwriters Laboratories.
The technique of using independent third party inspectors is an extremely expensive approach. Studies have indicated that the cost of having a third party independent inspector for facilities in the Gulf Coast area would be in excess of $200.000 per year. This cost, projected throughout the United States and the multiple service facilities, would be a completely unacceptable expense to the owners and users of inflatable rafts.
A number of serious problems have become evident relative to the overseas testing of rig vessels, support vessels, and helicopter inflatables. A first major problem associated with the overseas testing of these facilities relates to the servicing aspect. Servicing is often difficult and unreliable. Offshore operators often purchase extra rafts in order to facilitate returning rafts to U.S. service stations for annual inspections. Secondly, the requirement of obtaining U.S. Coast Guard personnel to witness inspections overseas is often difficult, if not impossible, for equipment manufacturers. Thirdly, and the central point of this analysis, is that overseas inspection of life rafts and other safety equipment is extremely expensive.
Heretofore, extremely cumbersome techniques for the manual testing of life rafts have been available. Generally, computer technology and associated electronics have not been incorporated into the testing procedures. Therefore, the present invention was developed to solve a long felt need in the area of life raft testing.
A number of patents have issued in the past that concern themselves with pressure measurement, weight detection, and pressure vessel testing procedures. None of these prior art patents is believed to be related to the field of life raft testing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,879 describes a blood pressure measuring instrument. This device measures blood pressure by applying pressure to a blood vessel from the outside. The pressure resulting from the movement of the blood pressure during the pressure reduction is converted by a pressure sensor into an electric signal. The converted output is differentiated twice. A first-polarity pulse, a second-polarity pulse and another first-polarity pulse are generated successively in the differentiated output waveform within a predetermined period of time. These values are then converted into a digital form and recorded. U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,125 describes a pressure testing vessel adapted to show internal fluid pressure. This testing device operates by applying an external source of fluid pressure to an indicator acting in opposition to the internal pressure. The effect of the applied external pressure on the operation of the indicator is observed and recorded. U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,677 describes a method for leak detection. U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,178 describes another leak testing method and apparatus. Neither of these leak testing and detection methods is related to the technique of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,881 describes a non-destructive testing method. In this method, a graphic record of pressure and volume is made during the introduction of a pressurizing fluid to a pressure vessel. The rise in pressure is a function of the volume of fluid introduced. The stress to strain relationship of vessel material is proportional respectively to the pressure and volume injected up to the elastic limit. Various recordings are made of these measurements and translated into a graphic illustration of integrity of the pressure vessel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a life raft testing device that eliminates the need for a third party witness to the testing procedure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a life raft testing device that is portable and relatively simple to implement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a life raft testing device that incorporates modern electronics into the measurement of pressure, temperature, load, and other physical variables.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a life raft testing device that is cost-effective in comparison with previous techniques of measurement.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended Claims.